Red Hat CEO Speaks Out on Patents

If you’ve been following the tech news with even one eye open, you’ve no doubt heard about Microsoft calling out the open source camp on patent infringement. Microsoft’s allegations have caused quite a stir in the IT world an everybody seems to have an opinion — including Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik.

At the Open Source Business conference, Szulik told hundreds of attendees, in no uncertain terms, that patents stifle innovation. But don’t take my word for it. Read it for yourself. Here’s a quote: “In the last 30 years, we’ve continued to see patents really being a challenge to innovation. The industry moves much faster than a remedy process. There is very little empirical evidence that builds a correlation between patents and innovation.”

Of course, Red Hat has patents of its own. But the company’s strategy is only to use them in defensive mode rather than to exert its intellectual property muscles on other companies. Szulik insisted that Red Hat and other open source companies respect intellectual property.

“I’ve had discussions with most luminaries of the open source industry,” he said. “They have always been respectful of intellectual property, of originality and invention.”

Like many others in the Linux camp, Szulik is calling for Microsoft to get more specific about exactly which patents trespass on Redmond’s property. Microsoft claims 235 patents infringe, but has yet to offer a list of the actual patents in question. Meanwhile, Novell is setting out in partnership with the Electronic Frontier Foundation to reform software patents around the world.

What’s your take? Do patents stifle innovation? Or are they necessary to protect a software developer’s intellectual property? Why let Microsoft, Red Hat and Novell have all the fun? Let’s talk about it.